• Leakey Collection
• Charitable Donations
• Independent Fundraisers

At Bella Joli, we are mindful of the events and circumstances of the world around us. We are grateful for living/working in a prosperous and safe city such as Iowa City and want to do as much as we can to help ensure that other people and animals enjoy the same possibilities, freedoms, and options that we experience every day. Because of this, we participate in as many fundraising and charity events as possible each year.

We are proud of our support of the Leakey Collection Jewelry line, which provides a living to pastoral people in Kenya, as well as our many charitable works closer to home. For more information, please continue reading!

Based in central Kenya, East Africa, The Leakey Collection founders Philip and Katy Leakey, combine their talents in interior design and the arts with their love of nature to develop stunning handcrafted products for an international market.

Using natural elements such as fallen wood, grass and ceramic, these renowned designers create unique products while protecting the environment and providing economic opportunity to the local communities.

Mission Statement

A design company built on innovative uses of natural materials to create a line of competitive products in the contemporary global market place. Product lines include interior/home accessories, gift, jewelry and women's fashion accessories.

A company dedicated to creating employment opportunities for rural Kenyans.

A company dedicated to training and educating people in sound business practices in order to enhance their chances for employment, entrepreneurial opportunities and life long opportunities.

A company dedicated to designing new ways of working with natural materials while maintaining environmental and cultural integrity.

A company with the goal of enhancing understanding between Developed Nations and Africa using products and commerce as a vehicle.

The Story of the Maasai

The Maasai are a pastoral group of people that live in the magnificent Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania. A tall, proud, and graceful people adorned in colorful clothing and ornaments, the Maasai still keep their traditions intact - herding cattle and living off the land as modernization changes the world around them.

A terrible drought that ended in 2001 lasted several years and devastated pasture lands. The Maasai's livelihood disappeared as their cattle died. The men had to drive the few remaining cattle hundreds of miles away to search for better grazing and it became evident that the women desperately needed a way to obtain medical supplies, and to feed, clothe, and educate their children.

Philip and Katy Leakey, who live among the Maasai in the Kenyan bush, wanted to help their neighbors and to provide work opportunities without changing their culture. They came up with an imaginative idea that would utilize the excellent beading abilities of the Maasai women, and it used grass, an available sustainable resource, as the primary element.

Soon the women were harvesting grass, one blade at a time. The long grass was dried and cut into bead-size pieces and dyed lovely hues - blues, greens, reds, yellows, pinks, purples, earth and natural tones - which were then strung into necklaces and bracelets. The Leakeys added brilliant Czech glass beads to their designs, mixing them with the soft luster of the grass beads and giving sparkle and a contemporary flair to the jewelry. Zulugrass was born.

In short order, the women learned that they could bring their babies and toddlers with them and they would be paid by the piece as they chose to work. As word passed through the Maasai community, women started walking as much as two hours each way to have their first chance to earn money. Now over 1400 hundred Maasai women are making Zulugrass while continuing to lead their lives in their traditional life style, and they can use their income to better their lives as they wish. Some have been able to reunite their families after earning enough to purchase cattle to restock herds and one woman has bought her own goat herd.

Philip and Katy Leakey's inspiration gave birth to Zulugrass - the beautiful jewelry handcrafted by experts, the Maasai women of Kenya. Zulugrass continues to provide much needed and desired opportunity for these wonderful women and their families.

Members of the Maasai People in their natural surroundings.

-Excerpt from www.leakeycollection.com

American Heart Association

West High School - Iowa City

Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow - University of Iowa

KCJJ-AM, Non-commercial Radio

American Diabetes Association

Bike to Work Week

The Humane Society

Copy of Press Release for Fundraiser Held to Aid Homeless Animals Victimized by Natural Disasters:
Mardi Gras Celebration to benefit animals
By The Press-Citizen Newsroom on behalf of Bella Joli Unique Jewelry and Gifts

Bella Joli Unique Jewelry and Gifts will have a Mardi Gras celebration in honor of the domesticated animals that were stranded during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005.

The Humane Society and other organizations have developed the PETS Act, which requires cities and states to take animals into consideration when forming evacuation plans for residents. The act was passed in October 2006.

Bella Joli will donate 5 percent of every sale that occurs Tuesday through the end of the month to the Humane Society. There will also be prizes, refreshments and jazz music throughout the event.

For more information, call 341-4562.